Drilling deep: are we up to the task of banishing the black stuff? Peter van Agtmael/Magnum Photos
FOR aficionados of megatrends in human affairs, Vaclav Smil has long been a favourite. Now in his 70s and still thinking and writing with huge vigour, Smil has gained a whole new audience in recent years thanks to Bill Gates describing him as his favourite source of new facts.
Unlike many big-picture gurus, Smil is not a determinist. Energy and Civilization is a magisterial history of how advances in energy technology – from fire and packhorses to solar panels and the hydrogen…
